Our mission

Empowering the Women of Nepal

OUR VISION AND PURPOSE

We pass on centuries-old traditions, empower creative craftswomen and make YOU feel great when you buy our products.

Who do we do it for?

The handcrafted wares made by the women of Kathmandu and sold with the help of Heavenly Himalayan mean that the families may be able to afford to send their children to school and to buy clothing to help keep themselves warm in the harsh winters.

Why do we do it:

At Heavenly Himalayan, we are delighted with how the income earned by the brave women of Kathmandu, selling their crafted handmade woollen headbands online, has empowered them and how this makes a huge, positive difference to the quality of their lives.

How do we do it:

We provide a world-wide platform that enables these brave women to continue to sell their wares and support their community.

ELLIE ter HAAR

While growing up in Michigan, USA, I always loved dreaming of far-off lands. I started traveling at 16, and was so fortunate to experience the world in all its vastness rich with possibility.  Meeting people from so many places and sharing their stories like the Tsaatan ‘Reindeer people’ in Mongolia or walking up a mountain pass with a spiritual master in Tibet became a lifelong passion.

EARLY YEARS

I was always fascinated by people who had ideas and were able to get them out into the marketplace in the form of products or services. This is magic to me. I spent years in the corporate world while sharpening the saw on my spiritual life through yoga, meditation, and immersing myself in the wisdom traditions.

MARCH 2020

Heavenly Himalayan was born out of a desire to showcase connection and love in the marketplace.  Connection saves us – saves our health, our lives and our planet.  Connection gives us faith that there is so much more beyond our own self-importance and that we’re part of a larger integrated whole; that we belong; that this is home to all of us

DECEMBER 2020

Heavenly Himalayan is a brand of Conscious Trader

There is a natural sustainability in our headbands which are ethically sourced and so much goodness and wellbeing imbued in our products that you can FEEL it when you wear them!

2021

Final products are hand-inspected and shipped to our USA warehouses and out into the market place - eventually on to the heads of a hiker, a skier, or a mom playing in the snow with her children. The people who wear our headbands are active and adventurous. They value: Simple Natural and Purposeful.

They care about a world that reflects our hearts and interconnectedness.

SIR EDMUND HILLARY

Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa of Nepal, became the first explorers to make the impossible possible.
Together, they successfully achieved their goal of reaching the summit of Mount Everest, which at 29,035 feet above sea level is the highest point on Earth.
I love this story because everyone has their own Mount Everest... a challenging goal which you were put on Earth to climb and conquer.
We go high into the mountains to source our yak wool, to help the local people, and to bring you these headbands.

Pran Maya Khadgi Kathmandu Liason and Business Partner

Ellie says: I met Pran Khadji, a beautiful happy soul, who was working at a children's school in a remote settlement on the Tibetan border. I waited in Kathmandu while Pran drove two days by open jeep to come down from the mountains to pick up the first of the supplies. I loved anyone who would do that and already had so much admiration and respect for this woman.

Pran’s generous spirit is infectious. Being around people who have so little materially and experiencing such goodness is humbling and inspiring. However, I also saw in Pran an astute businesswoman, who had the energy and capacity to really help her people and I wanted to help her do that.

I’ve been able to create, with the help and support of so many others, a distribution network linking Kathmandu with our warehouses in Pennsylvania and California and onto several e-commerce platforms.

We have an unprecedented opportunity now to reinvent and create and bring heart and innovation to the business world.

Our Crew

Without our team, none of this would be possible.  Heartfelt thanks to Jordyn Bailey, Jane Francis, Miriam Godfrey, Erika Grooten, Mieke Grooten, Jamie Hanna, Britney Vari, Mitchel Vari, and Pernelle Vari for their tireless contributions.
We send our love and gratitude to Pran, Prem, and Baby Karma in Nepal for their help in moving around and through any language and cultural barriers.

Some of the wonderful people who helped Heavenly Himalayan succeed